[Ming Li Lecture Hall, 2021, 11th] Professor Dan Zhang, University of Colorado Boulder: Recent Results on Approximate Linear Programming for Network Revenue Management

Time: January 18, 2021, 10:30-12:00 am

Conference Number: Tencent Conference 923 274 665

Speaker: Professor Dan Zhang (University of Colorado Boulder)

Content Summary:

The linear programming based approximate dynamic programming has received considerable attention in the recent literature. In this approach, high dimensional dynamic programs are solved approximately as large-scale linear programs to tackle the curse of dimensionality. The linear programming formulations are called approximate linear programs (ALPs) and typically have a large number of decision variables and constraints. A major challenge of the approach therefore lies in efficient solution of the ALPs. In this talk, I report some recent results and applications to network revenue management problems. I will conclude with discussions on future research directions and applications to other business problems.

Speaker profile:

Dan Zhang is Professor of Operations Management at Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Zhang’s primary research interest is revenue management and approximate dynamic programming. He frequently speaks at conferences, companies, and academic institutions, and consults in his area of expertise. Between 2017 and 2018, he is the chair of INFORMS Pricing and Revenue Management Section, an international society of pricing and revenue management researchers and professionals. He was the Department Editor for the Revenue Management and Pricing Area at the journal Decision Sciences between 2017 and 2018 and a Senior Editor for the journal Production and Operations Management between 2014 and 2018. He is currently Department Editor of Revenue Management Area at Production and Operations Management, an Associate Editor at both INFORMS Journal on Computing and Manufacturing and Service Operations Management. Dr. Zhang teaches operations management, statistics, and data analytics courses at all levels. He also offered PhD level courses on Operations Management Research and Approximate Dynamic Programming at several universities. Together with two colleagues, he has been offering a five-course specialization on Data Analytics for Business since September 2016 on the MOOC platform Coursera, which has enrolled over 130,000 students worldwide. Dr. Zhang held visiting appointments at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and College of Business, City University of Hong Kong. He is a Changjiang Chaired Professor awarded by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

(Organized by: Department of Technology, Economy and Strategic Management, Center for Scientific Research and Academic Exchange)